Small Milestones
by IndigoPenguin
Summary: It's the smaller milestones that help us get along, Tifa finds. Happy birthday, Ms. Lockhart. //Hints of VinTi//


_Just a little piece to look at parts of Tifa's life, character, and relationships; in honor of her birthday. I don't own FFVII. Enjoy, darlings!_

**(.)Small Milestones(.)**

**(Marker One)**

Two years ago, she had decided to be assertive. For her sake as much as his.

Go, she said. Go to _her_, because I know you're just here with me to make me happy. Because this was my dream; and you've lost your's, and you figure that sharing a dream is better than realizing that your own is crushed (_stabbed, dead )_ and gone. Go, because I know about the church and the trips to that city _(I run your office, remember? I know how many deliveries you've had and where they are) _and that's okay for you to run to—just not when you're supposed to be trying to be with me at the same time.

_Go, _because I know that you love me. But the love is different than what you give to her; is different than what I need from a boyfriend, different than I thought it would be..._And her burgundy eyes darkened in sorrow_. And because I love _you, _she said, I'm telling you that you need to go to wherever your mind is at peace.

**You don't have to pretend for me anymore. It's alright. I get it. **

Cloud left later that night, giving her a kiss for the sake of _something_. He took Denzel with him—he was the one who adopted him after all, he said—and climbed onto Fenir and accelerated off into the darkness of the road. Tifa had watched him go with a weight in her chest, and as she locked the door to Seventh Heaven, it got heaver. Moving up each stair was a battle, the mass becoming thicker and heavier still; but she was a fighter. It wasn't until she laid in her _their _bed and turned her gaze to the four cards on the table next to her that she let the weight come crashing down onto her spirit.

_Maybe on her next birthday, things would be alright? _And, deeper, in the part of her that was still shy and just a little selfish: M_aybe when I turn twenty-four, he'll be back. _

**(Marker Two)**

On May the third the following year, he called her for the first time since he left. _"Hey, I've built an orphanage in the Forgotten City...I'd really like it if you'd come and see." _Sure, she responded. _But part of her was totally defeated then. _To hide that, she had brought Cid—and by marital extension, Shera—Vincent, Yuffie, and Marlene with her.

Out of that group, she was proud and ashamed to say, she thought that only Vincent saw the remaining devastation.

**(Marker Three)**

By the time two years rolled around, Tifa had gotten over it as well as she'd ever. Marlene was with her adopted bear of a father again, the bar was doing well, a date or two with a handsome up-and-coming engineer had been went on. That had ended as soon as she saw that the only engineering he wanted or knew how to do involved being naked in a bed—she still had to thank Rufus ShinRa for blowing the whistle on that one. But all in all, her life was going fine for the first time in a while. As such, the month and day don't tend to stick out in one's mind until a man in a red cloak comes to remind you of them in the middle of the lunch rush. Tifa hadn't realized why he was there—she knew that he was, because a man in scarlet stood out in the dreary metropolis—until she got some time to go see him almost a half-hour after his arrival.

"You're still waiting here, Vincent? Sorry I couldn't come over earlier...we were busy, and," Tifa made a gesture with her hands, something in-between a wave and a punching motion. "Well...I''m free now." Vincent knew all of this—he had been in the bar, watching the goings-on of the crowd. His eyes locked steadily onto hers, waiting for the question. "What brings you here?"

"You've forgotten," He said; and she could have sworn _that was amusement in his voice. _"You must have been very busy today, then."

Tifa felt her forehead crinkle in confusion. "Did we have a visit planned?"

_This time, Vincent actually chuckled. _"No. No, we did not."

"...Vincent?"

"Let's just say that you can now legally rent a car. A small milestone, but a milestone nonetheless."

She paused for a moment until her brain managed to recall parts of obscure regulations. "Oh! It's my birthday, isn't it!"

"Yes," He nodded. "May third. I hope you don't mind..." He paused, reaching into the folds of his cloak. "...But after having known you for a few years, I think a present is in order." Tifa smiled at him and took the small wrapped box _(she knew better than to try and refuse it). _

"Thank you..." She responded, then turned her focus to the box in her hands.

The polished rock from Mount Nibel was just..._warm _and _familiar, _even as it hung from the end of the hand—Vincent—made cellphone charm. And she had thanked him again, and immediately attached the trinket to her Gotorola, and _smiled_ and didn't mind when he stayed past closing.

Because, on her twenty-fifth birthday, she had actually hit two milestones.

**(Destination...Reached)**

(.)END(.)

_Just a little ambiguous. I know: it's short and choppy—but hopefully easy enough to follow and not too much of a waste of time for you. I hope you liked it!_


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